Sweet and Spicy Nut and Pretzel Mix

Oh…the snack mix. That wonderful mix of salty treats that you most often eat on an airplane. I love them. In fact, I have actually gone to the King Nut web page just to see how much it would cost to get some of that deliciousness. We are not talking about the ordinary Chex Mix you get in the markets – this is a special mix that only the airplanes seem to have. I always chicken out…but don’t think I haven’t come close. I hate thinking I have to get on an airplane to eat the snacks I love.

Lately my family has been eating a lot of Chex cereal – it is gluten and dairy free (which makes one person in the family extremely happy), crunchy with milk, and as far as cereals go – low sugar content and pretty healthy. One day the cereal was on the counter, and my daughter spotted the recipes. I knew it was coming eventually. She wanted to make the snack mixes. Well, I had already been preparing for that day – and actually surprised her with an even better recipe – one that I found from Cooking Light. We decided to take bits and pieces of each recipe, change a couple of ingredients to match what we had in the house – and make our own. Wow was this good. They were salty, buttery and sweet all at the same time – and then the heat kicks in – just the right amount of heat. Perfect for serving with cocktails or any other type of beverage.

So – who needs King Nut now? I certainly don’t. What I need now is some more of this snack mix. Oh, and a nice cocktail would be fabulous…

Ingredients

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, divided

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (optional)

1/2 cup cashews

1/2 cup blanched almonds

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

3 cups tiny unsalted pretzels

1 cup crispy rice cereal squares (such as Rice Chex)

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Preparation

Combine cashews and almonds on a jelly-roll pan. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until the nuts begin to brown. Combine the pecan mixture and butter in a medium bowl, stirring until butter melts. Gently stir in pretzels, cereal, and syrup. Sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly over pretzel mixture; toss gently to coat. Spread pretzel mixture in a single layer on jelly-roll pan. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes, stirring once. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 teaspoon thyme. Cool completely.

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8 thoughts on “Sweet and Spicy Nut and Pretzel Mix”

I love a good snack mix, too! But have ZERO portion control on that kind of thing.
The two last posts…salty and sweet mixed I can totally get behind! YUM!
Hope things are slowing down for you guys…wow what a busy time.